After Rowan caught his breath, he sat up and saw Nikolai chatting with Sora. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but Nikolai looked serious while Sora had a smile on her face that honestly frightened him. Rowan didn't know what they were talking about, but he knew it wasn't good for him.
Before he could even ask, Nikolai walked up and said, "All right. After that little spar of ours, I now know where you're at. After getting a grasp of what you're capable of and your combat style, I've realized I can't train you the way I was trained."
"I was trained to fight like a thief or an assassin—to use stealth and the shadows as my weapon. But you're not like that. And besides, from what Sora tells me, that won't help your goal. You need to be seen to be heard. When you fight, you need to create a presence that will inspire fear and respect—not just in your enemies, but in your allies as well."
"From your situation, I can only surmise that you've been discarded by the rest of the nobility. You'll never be able to rule openly. So instead, you'll need to take control of the underground. I'll teach you how to do that in time. But for now, we'll focus on your personal power."
Rowan nodded. "Okay… so what's first?"
Nikolai didn't respond. He snapped his fingers.
Immediately, Rowan's own shadow surged upward and wrapped tightly around his arms, legs, and core, restricting his movement heavily. He tried to move, but it felt like he was underwater—weighted down by boulders.
"What the hell—" Rowan began to protest, struggling against the unnatural resistance.
Then Nikolai looked at Sora and said, "Do it."
The world shifted. In the blink of an eye, they were no longer in Rowan's front yard.
Now they stood—no joke—in a nightmarish obstacle course of all kinds. Ahead of him stretched a mile-long gauntlet filled with deadly traps and brutal hindrances.
Rowan stared, mouth agape. "Oh… shit."
Nikolai grinned. "While you're bound by the shadows, you must complete this obstacle course without dying. And you must do it in five minutes or less."
Rowan turned toward him, wide-eyed. "What do you mean, without dying?"
"Simple," Nikolai said with a smile. "All of these obstacles are designed to kill you."
"What?!"
"Yes. They're very real, and very deadly."
Rowan gawked. "How am I supposed to get through obstacles like that while being weighed down by my shadow?! Not to mention trying to move—just lifting one of my limbs feels like fighting a damn python!"
"That is the point," Nikolai replied coolly. "Once you get used to the shadow binding and can move normally with it still active, your strength and speed will increase by leaps and bounds. Then, we'll move on to something harder."
Rowan groaned. "Of course we will."
He sighed. "So… how am I supposed to do this without dying?"
"Oh, you're going to die. Several times."
"Excuse me?!"
"Don't worry," Nikolai said nonchalantly. "Sora has things set up so that if you die, you'll just wake up right back here at the start—completely fine. Kind of like a video game… except you'll actually experience death and all the pain that comes with it."
"Fantastic," Rowan muttered.
Nikolai pulled out his pocket watch. "Begin."
Rowan immediately began running toward the first obstacle—but his movements were painfully slow. What should've been a full-on sprint felt like a normal person's walk.
The first obstacle: a simple rotating log trap. He managed to avoid it for all of fifteen seconds before it smacked into him and sent him flying straight into the lava.
He screamed as the intense heat and pain engulfed him.
Then, in the next instant, he was back at the start.
Nikolai shook his head. "This is going to be a long day."
Sora and Bancho simply gave thumbs-down gestures.
Rowan glared at them. "Oh, shut up. I'd like to see you two try this!"
Sora just smiled. "I don't have to. I'm not the one who needs training."
Bancho raised an eyebrow at him, as if to say, Really?
Then Rowan realized the stupidity of his comment. A highly athletic gorilla going through an obstacle course? This would be easy for Bancho.
Nikolai snapped, "Stop wasting time. Get back to it."
Rowan groaned. "I'm going, I'm going…"
With a frown, he got up and tried again.
This time, as the log came at him, he dropped to the ground, letting it sweep past harmlessly. He stood, approached the narrow walkway with lava on both sides, and carefully balanced across to the next obstacle.
Now, he faced a wide pit of lava he had to leap across.
He turned around and yelled at Sora, "Why are these all so cliché?!"
Sora replied smugly, "I'm sorry, did you just say, 'make everything harder?'"
Rowan quickly backtracked. "Never mind!"
Not wanting Sora to ramp up the difficulty, Rowan ran forward and leapt toward the far side. Just when he thought he'd make it—he fell short and plunged into the lava.
Respawn.
Grinding his teeth, Rowan got up and tried again. Slowly but surely, he began to improve, not realizing that he was adapting to the binding spell. He was no longer running at walking speed, but closer to a power walk.
Again he cleared the log, crossed the narrow passage, and leapt toward the pit.
This time, he barely caught the edge, pulling himself up with grit and effort.
Seeing this, Nikolai smiled. "Good. He's starting to grow stronger already. And it only took him a week to make a noticeable increase in his power."
Sora looked at him and said, "You're a demon. And that's coming from me. I mean… he doesn't even realize he's been here for a week."
"Well, technically he hasn't," Nikolai replied. "I've been using my watch to reset time every time the day ends."
Sora narrowed her eyes. "Why hasn't he needed food or water at all in this week?"
"Oh, that's simple," Nikolai answered. " The binding spell I cast on him is also directly feeding energy into his body, eliminating the need for food or water. It was a little trick I learned during my training days. It's effective but not nearly as satisfying as actually eating."
As Nikolai and Sora chatted, Rowan continued.
The third obstacle: a 20-foot-high climbing wall. He began scaling it, grunting under the weight of the shadow binding. Then he noticed something—the handholds began disappearing at random.
Thankfully, there was a small telltale shimmer just before a hold vanished.
With effort, Rowan adapted—leaping from one hold to the next when necessary. But as he neared the top, he made a mistake. He slipped—and fell.
Expecting to hit solid ground, he was mildly relieved… until he realized the ground had been replaced with lava.
Respawn.
Rowan looked at Sora. "Really?!"
"There always needs to be a penalty for failure," she replied cheerfully, forming an "L" on her forehead with her fingers. "Try again, loser."
"I will have my revenge one day."
"I doubt it," she said, laughing.
Sighing in defeat, Rowan returned to the course.
It took him three more tries, but eventually, he conquered the climbing wall and advanced to the fourth obstacle.
He paused, shoulders slumping in resignation as he laid eyes on a massive pendulum bridge—complete with a narrow walkway and several swinging blades.
"F*** my life," he muttered, knowing exactly what was coming.
He moved as quickly as he could, dodging the first two pendulums—only to get smacked by the third, which launched him straight into the second, where he got impaled on the blade before falling into the lava.
Respawn.
"Okay, that's the worst one so far," Rowan grumbled.
Sora smirked. "Just wait until you get to the fifth one."
Rowan looked at her. "No wonder you were the chosen familiar for the guy destined to be the Demon King."
Sora beamed proudly. "Yep. I was literally made for this."
Resigning himself to his fate, Rowan turned to see Nikolai point at the pocket watch.
Back to it.
What Rowan didn't know was that he'd spent two weeks trying to cross that pendulum bridge.
Eventually, though, he'd gone from power-walking to sprinting. The binding spell was no longer as oppressive. He dashed across the bridge, weaving between the pendulums, keeping perfect balance.
At last, he made it to the other side.
There were no more traps. No logs. No lava pits. No climbing walls. No pendulums.
But what waited for him was worse.
In the center of a massive arena stood Champion Gundyr, red glowing eyes fixed on Rowan, his massive halberd already in hand.
Rowan stared in horror.
"…You have got to be kidding me."